Josep Castellanas

JOSEP CASTELLANAS GARRICH (Barcelona, 1896 – Palma de Mallorca, 1980).
"Pair of Landscapes."
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
In good overall condition.
Measurements: 39 × 59 cm each; 52 × 66 cm (frame).

The luminosity and chromatic synthesis of these two landscapes are characteristic of the Mallorcan work of Josep Castellanas, an artist closely associated with the renewal of 20th-century island landscape painting. In both compositions, nature is rendered through light, luminous swaths of color, moving away from meticulous detail to emphasize the atmospheric impression of the setting.

One of the landscapes centers on the reflection of vegetation and architecture on the water, while the second opens up the perspective toward a rural village dominated by tall cypress trees. The loose brushwork and the palette of greens, blues, and light earth tones bring both works closer to a Post-Impressionist sensibility, particularly attuned to Mediterranean light.

Josep Castellanas Garrich was trained in Barcelona within the Modernist milieu and was a disciple of Santiago Rusiñol, with whom he traveled to Mallorca for the first time in 1919. After alternating stays in Barcelona, France, Mexico, and the island, he settled permanently in Deià in 1940 and later in Biniaraix. He primarily painted rural landscapes, mountains, and seascapes, making Mallorca one of the main subjects of his work. His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions on the island and is closely linked to the 20th-century Mallorcan landscape tradition.